UBS upgraded McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) to Buy from Neutral based on expectations the it can deliver on 2009 EPS expectations and potential for accelerating share gains.
Bernstein upgraded Nokia (NYSE:NOK) to Outperform from Underperform on valuation following the company's profit warning. Merrill upgraded shares to Buy from Neutral to reflect valuation and Nokia's new product portfolio. Shares were also upgraded to Hold from Sell at WestLB.
B. Riley raised UCBH Holdings (NASDAQ:UCBH) to Buy from Neutral to reflect the improved valuation and the company's stronger capital position provided by the US Treasury investment.
Parexel (NASDAQ:PRXL) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
CTS Corp (NYSE:CTS) was lifted to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
Soleil downgraded Disney (NYSE:DIS) to Hold from Buy to reflect the weakening macro-economic outlook and their belief consensus estimates may be too high. The firm lowered their target to $23 from $40.
Merrill downgraded Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) to Neutral from Buy on expectations PC sales will decline next year amid the slowing economy. The firm lowered Dell's target price to $13 from $22.
Jefferies cut MDS Inc (NASDAQ:MDZ) to Hold from Buy to reflect slowing demand and a lack of catalysts to unlock the company's assets. The firm lowered their target to $10.50 from $15.
Alcoa (NYSE:AA) was lowered to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
Tesco PLC (Other OTC:TSCDY) was downgraded at JP Morgan to Underweight from Neutral.
Merrill downgraded SAP AG (NYSE:SAP) to Neutral from Buy.
Goldman added Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR) to the Conviction Sell List.
Analyst initiations:
Citigroup thinks AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) will benefit from the slowdown in car sales and thinks the recent pullback is overdone. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $146 target.
Citigroup also believes Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) will benefit from the slowdown in car sales and started shares with a Buy rating and $35 target.
After Sunway (OTCBB:SUWG) reported higher than expected revenue, Roth Capital thinks the company is poised for substantial growth, but the firm thinks its remaining warrants may keep the shares trading at a modest valuation for a significant amount of time. The firm started shares with a Hold rating and $3.60 target.
Mechel Steel (NYSE:MTL) was initiated with a Neutral rating at Merrill Lynch.
The Summer Olympics are only days away and what the Chinese had hoped would be their coming out party to celebrate all that is good, may instead become quite the opposite.
The air pollution in Beijing is so bad that even reducing automobile traffic by 50% has not helped much. China is now considering a 90% reduction according to news reports. Athletes are staying in other countries until the games begin so that they may train somewhere they can breathe. There are also reports that many athletes involved in stamina events will be forced to wear masks to protect themselves from the particulates in the air.
Now Reuters is reporting that "Some International Olympic Committee officials cut a deal to let China block sensitive websites despite promises of unrestricted access, a senior IOC official admitted on Wednesday."
So the world media will not be able to do their jobs in a manner they are accustomed to. But who are we actually referring to? Western media, of course, because half the world still limits access to information to some degree.
Markets in Asia were troubled by rising oil and concerns that the global economy is getting into more trouble as each week passes.
The Shanghai Composite fell 6.5% to 2,749.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 2.2% to 22,807. China Life (NYSE: LFC) dropped 3.1% to 28.3 yuan. China Petroluem (NYSE: SNP) fell 3% to 8.07.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei dropped 2.2% to 14,130. Mazda fell 5.5% to 568 yen. Toyota (NYSE: TM) dropped 3.2% to 5490 on concerns that its truck sales were falling in the US.
A number of markets in Asia were down 2% or more lead by the Shanghai Composite which is off 45% since the beginning of the year, according toMarketWatch.
In Japan, the Nikkei dropped 2.1% to 13,888.6. Sony (NYSE:SNE) was down 2.8% to 5,130 yen. Toyota (NYSE:TM) was off 2.7% to 5,400.
The Hang Seng fell 1.7% to 22,925.31. China Life (NYSE:LFC) fell 2.4% to 28.40 yuan. China Petroluem (NYSE:SNP) dropped 2.7% to 7.39.
As China increased the amount of money that banks need to keep in reserves as a way to reduce lending and curb inflation, the Shanghai Composite fell 7.7% to 3,073. The Hang Seng was down 4.2% to 23,382.
A number of stocks were off over 10%. Some of the shares in China's largest companies suffered significant losses. China Life (NYSE: LFC) was down 5.2% to 29.15 yuan. China Netcom (NYSE: CN) was off 8.9% to 20.95. China Petroleum (NYSE: SNP) was down 7.8% to 7.61.
China Petroleum & Chemical (NYSE: SNP), an energy and chemical company based in the People's Republic of China, closed at $98.35. WTI Crude Futures are down 0.33% to $123.82 according to Bloomberg. SNP overall option implied volatility of 46 is below its 26-week average of 57 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price risk.
China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC) offers products and services, including individual life insurance, accident insurance and health insurance in China. LFC closed at $62.37. LFC overall option implied volatility of 42 is below its 26-week average of 50, suggesting decreasing price risk.
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com
Way back in early March I highlighted 10 horrifically downtrending stocks and said not to even think about buying them until they broke their nasty trendlines to the upside.
Over the past few weeks, many have displayed solid sideways price action, but it wasn't until yesterday that the high volume breakouts occurred. I'm talking about those 50+ million shares traded, 10%+ price surges beautifully accomplished by such popular names like Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE: S), Broadcom Corp (NASDAQ: BRCM) and Level 3 Communications Inc (NASDAQ: LVLT).
Unsurprisingly, several other stocks also showed similarly strong price action:
The Nikkei was up 1.9% to 23.329. Sony (NYSE: SNE) was up 3.6% to 5,220 on strong earnings. Toyota (NYSE: TM) was up 5.4% to 5,820.
The Hang Seng was trading off 1.2% to 23,375 and is now down almost 25% over the last quarter. China Life (NYSE: LFC) was down 4.5% to 27.7. PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) was off 1.9% to 10.6.
The Shanghai Composite fell .8% to 4,383.
Data from Reuters.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
The Hang Seng index took a sharp jump, up 6.7% to 25,122 as it lead most Asia indexes higher.
Several benchmark stocks posted significant gains. China Life (NYSE: LFC) rose 8.4% to 33.5. China Petroleum (NYSE: SNP) rose 11.2% to 9.37. PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) rose 8.6% to 11.88.
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Analyst upgrades:
The Summer Olympics are only days away and what the Chinese had hoped would be their coming out party to celebrate all that is good, may instead become quite the opposite.
China Petroleum & Chemical
Before the bell: Wall Street headed higher; automakers, retailers in focus
Waiting for the other shoe to drop: The looming credit crisis
Bet on T&A with J&J (JNJ)
